Descent
by SylvaDragon
Summary: Set a few weeks after Albus' seeming death at the end of HBP. As dream and reality merge Minerva begins to doubt her own senses, reality and even her sanity. Old friends seem to betray her and enemies must be trusted if she is to save Albus' soul. MMAD
1. Chapter 1

Descent

Chapter One

The new day dawned bright and clear as the towers and turrets of Hogwarts sparkled in the sunlight. All Minerva could think was that Albus' eyes would have sparkled too, touching her with warmth and joy just as the sun sparkled. Angrily Minerva pushed the thought from her mind, commanded the image to begone. She didn't want to forget Albus but remembering him hurt so much, intensifying the emptiness that engulfed her to an unbearable level. Once they both would have smiled to see the sun paint the castle with glory, now Minerva felt as though she would never smile again unless it were a brave pretence, a facade to reassure those who cared for her. Albus would have smiled though, he would have had the courage she lacked. He would have smiled though it cost him his soul and his smiles would have strengthened those around him, giving them the will to carry on.

It was almost unthinkable that never again would she see Albus' merrily beaming face, the smile that lit up his whole soul and shone like a beacon even in the darkest of times. Never again would she feel his hand in her's or lie with him together. Unthinkable unbelievable but true. His body lying shattered and broken on the ground that dreadfull night, devoid of life force, of everything that had made Albus himself. The dull eyes that would never twinkle again, the deathly palor of his face, the lips set in a death grimace that would never beam radiantly at her ever again. How long had she knelt stunned by his side that night ? As the numbness crept into her soul, and her life, her world collapsed around her.

At first the days had been filled with numbness and coldness, the formalities of the funeral, but now all that was done and the rest of the world seemed ready to carry on with their lifes once more. Only Minerva felt left behind isolated, unable to just go on despite her best efforts. The students had gone home for the summer only the staff remained. Hogwarts seemed cold and empty in a way that it never had when Albus still lived. Summer had been their special time a few precious weeks when they could be alone together, now the halls echoed with emptiness and the walls were of cold hard stone like her heart.

Work and books no longer gave her solace, the words of friends were meaningless to her, it was as though she barely heard them. Minerva's chambers felt like a prison cell as grief closed in around her. The absence of Albus was more than she could bear, the more she held herself rigid the more she feared to break. Each item that surrounded Minerva was a cruel reminder of her loss, the room vibrated with the essence of him till she had to escape. She was alone now. There was no one to hold her tight soothing her troubles away with tender kisses and twinkling eyes, that banished her cares and tempted smiles to her lips.

A sweep of her arm sent the scrolls falling to the floor unheeded as the chair crashed back nearly toppling over, and Minerva fled the bitter torment of her chambers to pace the grounds of Hogwarts, as she had done so often these last days.

All that long day Minerva walked the grounds refusing all entreaties to take food or rest, oblivious to the worried murmurings and concerned glances of her friends and fellow Professors. The day passed agonisingly slowly as she waited for the blessed relief of sleep, that would only come when she was exhausted. Only then could she collapse into her lonely bed and rest. If only she could sleep forever and never have to wake again, never again have to face that agonising moment between slumber and waking when forgetting, she would reach for Albus just as she used to reach for him when he still lived.

As the day drew to a close and the cloudless summer sky turned twilight blue, Minerva stared at the slender new moon in the sky. This should be a time for new hope, new life. Instead her heart was bereft of hope and joy, shrouded in ice as it had been ever since the light in her world went out, ever since Albus fell from the tower.

Was it weakness from lack of food that made her think that his voice whispered to her on the cool night breeze ? Haunting words in the night, just on the edge of hearing, unintelligible - the wind in the trees or something more ? The softest of caresses on her arm, soft and so familliar like the gentle breath of air, the touch of a lover.

"Albus ..." Minerva murmured as her heart lept with new hope and joy, that was soon smothered by the familliar coldness that had engulfed her ever since he fell. Angrily she wrenched her arm away and pressed it rigidly against her side. "I don't believe in shadows in the dark." Minerva snapped, as though she tried to convince herself fully of this half truth.

"But you do believe in me ..." Albus' voice on the breeze. A whisper in her ear, a soft familliar caress on her skin, it was just the wind, just whispers on the wind tormenting her, cruel tricks of her imagination. A featherlight ethereal touch of her hand, scarcely to be heard words that seemed to be within her mind, yet also to be of the darkening skies. "Help me Minerva you have to help me ..."

Minerva spun round, staring desperately into the empty twilight that was suddenly devoid of stars and moon. Then she was falling away from him spinning downwards through a spiral of darkness. Reaching out her hand as she fell, his name bursting from her lips begging him to save her, to draw her back to him. Albus' name echoed back to Minerva from the silence that surrounded her, as darkness closed in around her, and she fell for what seemed like an eternity.

_Author's Notes_

_This story has been floating around on my hard drive for several months while I tried to decide whether or not to publish it. It is far darker than most things I write, which is partly why I wrote it. I wanted to challenge myself to write in a different style, try something new. Finally I've decided to be brave lol and publish it, despite my own doubts about it. ;) It's also quite difficult to write as it is so dark, and I have to put myself in that mind set. I have a few more chapters on my hard drive (in rough form) and will publish them over the next few weeks. If people seem to like them or be interested in them, then I will continue the story. _

_So if you do like this story please review and let me know. :) Then I shall be inspired to continue. ;) _


	2. Chapter 2

Descent

Chapter Two

As Minerva struggled back to consciousness, to the torment of a reality that she didn't want to live in, cold hard stone dug into her bones pressing bruisingly through flesh that was all too thin after weeks of insufficient nutrition. Hazily Minerva stared around confused and disorientated. _'Where was she ?' _A gasp of surprise as blurred vision cleared and the room swam into focus - her own chambers, she was in her own chambers, lying in a heap by her bed. '_How could this be ?' _

Logic said that she had dreamed, that all that had passed before had been a dream, but it seemed so clear so real. Albus, his voice soft on the night air, so far away and yet so close, the touch that could have been the caress of the summer breeze, had that all been just a dream ? Had she dreamed an entire day ? Sickening fingers of a long held deeply buried fear clutched at Minerva, tendrils of terror that strangled the air from her lungs. She was suffocating, gasping panic stricken for breath. _'I'm not her, I will not be her.' _Minerva grasped the emerald tartan blanket that hung from her bed, hauled herself up, fought back the panic, and clung to the wooden bed post as though it were a lifeline as the room spun around her.

As the spinning eased a little Minerva decided to abandon the support of the bed post. At once her legs turned to jelly as weakness overcame her, the room rocked violently, nauseatingly. As the mist of unconsciousness rushed in on her Minerva's last sense was of the ground lurching up to meet her.

Poppy found Minerva some minutes later sprawled on the floor of her chambers in a dead faint. "Minerva !" Poppy gasped and rushed to her friend's side, rapidly checking her pulse. Poppy sighed in exasperation as she gazed down at the pale form before her, really this was bound to happen if you scarcely ate or slept. Minerva couldn't be allowed to continue like this any longer. Tenderly Poppy cradled her friend's head in her arms, "Minerva wake up." She said softly, then patted her face gently and saw Minerva's eyes flutter open in response.

Arm firmly around Minerva's waist Poppy helped her to an armchair, then fetched a cool glass of water from the bathroom and held it to Minerva's pale lips. "Drink this." She commanded.

As Minerva sipped the water she regained her senses fully, and stared up at Poppy's concerned face with more than a hint of annoyance.

"Now Minerva don't you glare at me like that." Poppy said firmly. "You know perfectly well that you haven't been looking after yourself lately, really it's a good job I came to see you when I did...."

As Minerva opened her mouth to protest, Poppy silenced her with a glare that nearly rivalled Minerva's fiercest glare. "Minerva you must eat and sleep properly, otherwise I shall have to make you stay in the hospital wing for a few days where I can keep an eye on you." Reaching out Poppy took Minerva's hand gently in her own, wincing at how easy it was to feel the bones through the paper thin skin. "I know you miss Albus, I know it's hard, but he wouldn't want you to do this to yourself ..." Poppy said gently.

"Get out !" Minerva interrupted furiously. She didn't want or need sympathy from anyone, how could they understand how she felt anyway. All she wanted was to be left alone.

"What ?" Poppy said stunned, as her own face turned nearly as white as Minerva's. Through all their years as friends and colleagues Minerva had never spoken to Poppy in such a way before.

Minerva used the last of her strength to drag herself upright till she was glowering down at the shorter woman. "Get out now, before I hex you." She snarled as her wand hand moved threateningly to her robes, "Get out of my rooms."

For a few seconds Poppy stood undecided what to do. She was deeply concerned to leave Minerva alone in her present condition, and yet there was little to be gained by confrontation with Minerva when she was in this state of mind. "Very well, I shall leave ...for now." Poppy said with a tremble in her voice, "I shall however send food, and will be checking to see that you eat it."

With that Poppy turned and left Minerva's chambers. Once she was gone Minerva collapsed back in her chair as weakness once again overwhelmed her.

Poppy was as good as her word, and within an hour a very delicious looking meal appeared on Minerva's desk. Minerva's first instinct was to fling it across the room in disgust, as she raged inwardly at Poppy for daring to interfere, for treating her like a child who must be forced to eat. Then she remembered Poppy's words about checking to see if she had eaten, and grudgingly decided to partake of the meal before her. The food in her mouth might have been sawdust for all Minerva cared, she chewed without being aware of what she ate, and had to force herself to swallow. Like nearly everything since Albus died eating required great effort. When the children had been still here in those weeks before his funeral Minerva had had a reason to be strong, but now they were gone there was no longer any reason to maintain a facade of strength.

Albus' voice echoed in Minerva's mind all that day, a call from another dimension that she could not dismiss, could not silence with cold rationality no matter how hard she tried. She felt as though she walked in a twilight zone between dream and reality, not fully part of either. Haunted by whispers that drifted in and out of her consciousness, wraith like touches on her skin, was it the caress of her robes as she moved or something more ? Sometimes she wondered if she still slept, whether this was all a dream, then banished the thought as foolish nonsence. There was only one way to defeat this, logical thought, reason, work.

Resolutely Minerva thrust the long empty plate aside, scarcely noticing as it shattered into pieces on the floor. Hauling scrolls of coursework towards her she strove valiantly to do what she once used to do with the greatest of ease - loose herself in work. Despite her best efforts Minerva could not focus, the words she read were meaningless to her, as the feeling of disorientation, of unreality, continued and grew. Whispers still played endlessly in her mind, the same words repeated over and over - "But you do believe in me." Haunted, torn, she was unable to silence them fully. Untill at last she was reduced to staring at the parchment in despair and growing terror that family history would repeat itself in her.

Unbidden images, memories of the past surged into Minerva's mind - the loss of her dear father only months after her graduation. A life cut short so cruelly young, a valiant warrior's death in the final weeks of the war against Grindewald. A loss that had torn her family apart with a wound so deep that it would never fully heal.

Minerva had heard her mother calling out to her beloved every night, pleading into the unanswering hollow chambers. Watched her drift more and more into a world of delusion and phantasms, a palid haunted figure who stalked the passages of their home, or gazed hollow eyed out of windows waiting for a husband who would never again come home to her. Now Minerva buried the same urge to cry into the night for a man who was gone, as terror gnawed at her, taunting her, forecasting the same fate for her as for her mother, telling her that she would break too, it was in her blood to break. _'I will not become her. I will not.' _Hands clenched so tight, the warm drip of blood from nails in skin. The same hollow eyes staring back at her from the mirror. She must dismiss this dream, must regain her hold on reality. She would not break as her mother had broken.

As the years after the loss of her father passed so Minerva came to realise that the strong fiery woman, with the intense emerald eyes who'd blazed a path of glory and magic through Minerva's childhood was gone forever. It was almost worse than death to see her passionate loving mother disintegrate like this. Everyone said that Minerva was her mother's duaghter. What if she was her mother's daughter in this too ? All those years a secretly held fear so determinedly supressed that Minerva was barely aware of it, never spoke of it to anyone, not even Albus.

Minerva spent the next years at their highland home caring for her mother, resolutely refusing all offers of employment, determined not to abandon her. Only Albus seemed to understand her choice to put duty ahead of career. Every week without fail he would arrive, arms laden with scrolls and rare books from the Hogwart's library, sapphire eyes sparkling with joy at her. Each week he would tease her that, "Can't have you abandoning your studies can we ...and I expect no slacking Minerva ..." Even Minerva's mother seemed a little calmer when Albus was there, and Albus of course treated her with unfailing patience and kindness, when many others would have spared only a pitying glance then turned away.

Thinking of Albus was unbearable her loss too recent, wounds too raw. Desperately Minerva reached for the transfiguration book that lay on her desk, commanded herself to focus on it. "Help me Minerva ...you have to help me ..." haunting whispered memories of a day that never happened, phantasms that Minerva could not silence, played endlessly in her mind until she almost thought that Albus really called her. Despairingly Minerva buried her head in her hands. _'I will not break. I will not break.' _She told herself over and over, as if constant repitition would make it true.

_Author's Notes_

_This is the second chapter I had on my hard drive, there are two and a half more written but needing editing. So I will continue to put those up here, if people seem to like the story then I will do my best to continue with it. So if you do like it then please review and let me know. And, as always thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, *strews candy borrowed from Albus' store of candy around.* ;)_

_I know Minerva may seem quite weak possibly in this chapter but I tried to also show her strength and determination, I hope I succeeded as the parrot with no beak said. :D _


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

That night a vial of dreamless sleep potion appeared on Minerva's bedside table, attached to it was a scroll which read, 'Take this Minerva, you need to sleep.' The scroll was signed in Poppy's normal messy scrawl. Minerva was just about to fling the potion across the room, when images of her mother's tormented sleepless nights in the weeks after her husband's death surged into her mind. Perhaps Poppy was right, maybe sleep might do her good, might save her from the same fate as her mother. Not even bothering to undress, Minerva climbed onto the same bed she had shared so often with Albus, the loneliness that lept in her breast was unbearable, she could not lie here without him. Just as she had every night since he died she settled herself in an armchair by the window and stared with blank unseeing eyes into the midnight skies.

A moment's hesitation then Minerva raised the bottle to her mouth and swallowed the contents. Slowly her eyelids grew heavy as the potion took effect and lulled her softly to sleep. Minerva hated the feeling of loosing control that the potion gave her, a brief moment of panic, then Minerva's eyes closed, dark lashes came to rest against ivory skin, breathing slowed, and rigid muscles relaxed relieved.

Nightmarish images of Albus in an ethereal realm invaded her mind, insubstantial vapourous beings ebbed and flowed in the writhing mists that surrounded him. At first Minerva thought them harmless but then she noticed how Albus tried to evade them, twisting away from them desperately as they descended on him from all sides, attaching themselves to him with gaping voracious maws like leeches, sucking his essence, his soul out of him in twisting silvery strands.

Spasms of pain crossed his face, twisting his features into a mask of agony as his eyes dulled, growing ever more dim and misty as he began to fade into nothingness. Growing ever weaker while the creatures grew stronger and stronger, swirling around him in vampire like ectasy till he was all but obscured by them. Minerva tried to reach out to him, but her arms were pinned to her side by some unseen force, unable to move, unable to intervene, she was powerless to save her love. Her lips moved screaming soundlessly for help, for someone to save him, crying out to him silently that she loved him for all eternity, as the swirling mists engulfed him.

Over and over again Minerva helplessly endured the same horrific ordeal, incapable of reaching Albus no matter how desperately she strove. Countless times she saw him dwindle into non existence, his soul leeched from him by insatiable devouring hunger that knew no mercy.

Minerva woke dripping with perspiration and trembling violently. Slowly she wiped a quivering hand across dew flecked forehead, and tried to quell the feeling of detachment from her body and limbs. Unable to move she sat dazed for long minutes caught in the web of nightmare. As conscious thought slowly returned she noticed her face reflected in the moonlit window, staring back at her like an ashen death mask. _'The sun, where was the sun ? Had she slept all day and into the next night ?'_

"Time ?" Minerva snapped, as she glared at the magical clock on her desk.

The red and gold clock in the shape of a phoenix, a gift from Albus which Minerva thought terribly ugly, shook itself and answered sleepily, "1.00am." Friday the 25th July."

Minerva gasped, that could not be right, it just could not be right. "Ridiculous." She snapped glaring at the clock as though it had personally insulted her. "Correct Date ?" She demanded fiercely.

The phoenix seemed to sigh slightly, then lifted it's head from preening it's metalic feathers and answered firmly. "Friday the 25th of July." The bird then fluttered it's wings in a most insolent manner and turned it's back on her.

Minerva stifled a gasp of surprise as her senses reeled. _'How could this be ?' _It made no sense. She had taken the potion at short before midnight on Thursday, and now it was just one hour later. Anyone who took dreamless sleep potion normally slept for at least eight hours. _'How could this have happened ?' _Dread gnawed at her stomach once again, were these the first signs of a mental breakdown, could she trust herself, or was she already trapped in a world of delusion ?

Minerva lifted the empty vial from the table, gazed disbelievingly at it, she should not have dreamt, should not have woken after such a short time. Desperately she grasped for answers, something, anything to bring sanity and sense back to her world, but her normal ability for intelligent thought seemed to have deserted her, as though an ominous mist obscured her normal perceptions blinding her to the truth.

Despairingly Minerva closed her eyes, at once images from her nightmare flashed into her mind, as she once again endured the horror of seeing Albus sucked dry of his soul by writhing pulsating ethereal vampires. "Albus ..." Minerva gasped unaware that she spoke until she heard her words echo in the emptiness of her chambers, vivid green eyes flickered open, haunted emerald orbs staring tormented into the night. The whispers on the wind, the nightmare so intense that it seemed more real than her chambers, or the people around her. So real, so very real, could it have been more than a dream ?

The tap of tree branches on Minerva's window drew her attention to the moonlit world outside. Instinctively Minerva followed the call of her heart and without bothering to put on a cloak, slipped through the passages of the castle until she stood under the stars, feeling the silence of the night all around her, each one of her senses intensified, quivering like a hunting animal. Last night's dream vivid and so real in her mind, had she walked the grounds or not, heard his voice like a sigh in the dark, felt his touch like a faint breath of air, or had it been just a delusion ?

Minerva paced the night seeking, listening, but all she heard was the sound of wind in the fir trees, and this time there were no words, no familiar voices drifting on the cool breeze, no whispers that wafted into her mind, the lonely night was silent and dark. "Albus ... Albus ..." Minerva called, then paled as unwelcome images of her mother lept to her mind. A tremor shook Minerva from head to toe, and she swayed almost falling to her knees as despair and terror nearly made her their own. It was happening she was becoming her mother, teeth biting into lips, hands clenching striving for self control. '_No ! I will not. I will not. I am strong.'_ Minerva clutched at the straws of rational thought that normally came so easily to her. There had to be an explanation for what had happened, a reason, but it was as though she was blind and could not see, fear grew, her intellect, her will was leaving her, just as they had fled from her mother leaving her a mere shell of a human.

Panic lept in her breast, and Minerva sank trambling to the ground in defeat, her limbs suddenly to weak to support her as the weakness she had fought so hard against overwhelmed her. She came to rest among the ancient moss covered limbs of a tree, the bark rough and harsh against her pale, silky skin that Albus used to caress so tenderly. A quivering huddled form, face turned from a world of terror and illusion, breathing so ragged and harsh that she seemed almost to convulse with each breath.

The wind that murmured in the green leaves above sighed softly to see her so, the breeze caressed her ebony hair with a touch so light she scarcely felt it. Featherlight ethereal fingers ran through her hair, only one man had ever touched her with such worship, such adoration. The softest of whispers, so faint it was barely to be heard, "Minerva, my love ..." A breath of air kissed her cheek as though familiar gentle lips stroked her skin. "Minerva, please ..." His voice faded into the heavens and was gone, leaving her alone once more.

With energy born of desperate need Minerva dragged herself to her feet, clutching desperately at branches for support, "Albus ... Albus ..." She cried into the bleak dark night, "Albus ... come back ... I need you Albus ... " The silent skies taunted her, the world was an echoing void, as her heart broke within her once more, just as it had the night that he fell.

_Author's Notes_

_Sorry to take so long to update, hopefully the next update will be faster, unless other things continue to prevent me writing. Please review and let me know what you think. _


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Professor Flitwick, who was just returning from a late night tryst with Pomona Sprout, frowned as he heard Minerva's cries. Peering into the darkness he could see her silhouetted against the moonlit skies. As he gazed at Minerva, she called once again to Albus her voice unusually high pitched and close to breaking. Filius took an uncertain step towards her then changed his mind and ran to fetch Poppy.

Minerva stared desperately into the night seeking for any sign of Albus. She could not loose him again, hands clutching at thin air as though she could grasp him and drag him back to her, despair, desperation, running, calling. Hearing her cries echoing back to her in the night, the voice of a stranger. The thud of feet running towards her, worried intrusive voices wrenching her away from him, dragging her back to a cold harsh world that was devoid of meaning and reason without him.

"Minerva you must come inside, you need to rest." Poppy's frantic voice edged it's way into her consciousness, banishing the last fading remnants of his spirit.

"Leave me alone !" Words snarled from between clenched lips, as the burning fires of fury blazed within her.

A man's touch on her arm, but not the touch she longed for. "We are all worried about you Minerva, listen to Poppy." The familiar slightly squeaky voice of Filius Flitwick jarred her overwrought soul, and she wrenched her arm away from him.

"Minerva, I am going to take you inside now." Poppy's firm voice accompanied by an authoritative arm round her waist, resentment surging within her. _'Why couldn't they just leave her alone ?' _

"Expelliarmus !" The words erupted from Minerva's throat without thought or intent, instinctive wild magic born of rage and desperation which sent Poppy hurtling backwards through the air.

As Poppy landed in a heap on the stoney ground, Filius rushed to her aid. Minerva seemed to be unaware of what she had just done as she vanished wordlessly into the night, leaving Poppy to be helped up by a distressed Filius. Poppy groaned as she rubbed her bruised and aching limbs ruefully, then gazed after Minerva more deeply worried than ever. Even the soothing charm that Filius cast on her bruises, and his attempts to reassure her by stating that Minerva was probably just upset and not herself, were not sufficient to banish Poppy's concerns. She knew her friend too well to think this behaviour normal, and was beginning to fear that Minerva was having some kind of breakdown.

Minerva stood on the rocky promontory that overhung the waters of the lake, raven hair twisting and turning in the wind. Clouds had driven the moon from the skies, the water below surged angrily against the shore in dark waves. When all her desperate roamings of the grounds had failed to find him, and the night had remained silent of familiar whispers instinct had led her here, to the place where Albus had first confessed his love, and shyly, tenderly, kissed her under the stars. Minerva listened with all her senses, ears attuned to every sound, but there was no soft familiar voice on the wind, no murmurs within her mind.

Minerva felt as though an oppressive mist shrouded her mind, dimming her normal powers of reasoning, as though she grasped in the darkness for answers that were just beyond her reach. She knew only one thing - she had felt his touch light and soft on her skin, had heard his voice faint on the breeze, he needed her and she had to help him. _'I must find him, I must.' _Desperately Minerva tried to force her normally formidable intellect to function through the haze of exhuastion that nearly overwhelmed her.

The bay of a ghostly horn echoed among the mountains as the Headless Hunt swept into sight, surging across the midnight skies with Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore leading them. Pearly white translucent steeds rearing against the black skies, as spectral riders urged them on. Another discordant wail of the hunting horn said that their prey was sighted, and the pack wheeled off into the mountains vanishing into the mist. Minerva barely registered their flight, but the sight of them planted a seed of an idea in her mind that drove her instinctively back to the castle.

Blindly Minerva swept along the cold stone passages of Hogwarts scarcely knowing where she was going. Suddenly she saw the translucent silvery form of Nearly Headless Nick gliding along the corridor towards her. As he saw Minerva approaching the ghost tugged gently on his left ear, and tilted his head courteously at her, much as a gentleman might doff his cap to a lady.

Suddenly Minerva knew what had driven her inside, and before Sir Nick could speak, asked bluntly, "Have you seen Albus ? Do you know where he is ?" The desperation in her voice crackled in the air.

Sorrow passed over Sir Nick's face as he hesitated for a moment, then answered softly, "The Headmaster is dead dear lady, he has chosen to go on ... perhaps that is a choice I too should have made ..."

"You must know where he is .." Minerva said frantically.

A sigh escaped Sir Nicks lips like a gust of icy air, as he seemed lost for words, almost inclined to turn away and vanish through the nearest solid object.

"You have to know ... I need to find him ..." Minerva said even more frantically.

"My dear lady, it is as I said he has gone on, the good professor is gone from here - as all those who die and so choose, leave this place and journey on." Sir Nick answered gently, reached out his hand as though to comfort then remembered and sadly drew his hand back.

"Oh you're no help." Minerva snarled, rage blazing in her emerald eyes she swept straight through the ghostly figure of Sir Nick as though he didn't exist and vanished round the corner.

"Well really ! How very uncouth !" Sir Nick grumbled as he shuddered uncomfortably.

"What's that my dear fellow ?" The Fat Friar asked as his head suddenly poked up through the floor, "Ooof I really must loose weight ..." He added as the rest of his portly form seemed to get stuck for a second, then emerged into full view with a loud pop.

"She walked straight through me as though I didn't exist, the nerve of it." Sir Nick snapped, as he glared at the corner that Minerva had vanished round.

"Well we do walk through them all the time ..." The Fat Friar muttered uncertainly.

"Exactly, and that is the right and proper way to do things. The way it's always been done." Sir Nick said firmly, "But people walking through us, that's just bad manners. It was so horribly warm too." Sir Nick shivered as he remembered how it had felt to have Minerva walk through him, while the Fat Friar patted him soothingly on the arm.

Oblivious to the distress she had caused Sir Nick, Minerva continued to stride along the castle's passages. Each time she encountered one of the resident ghosts she would ask the same despairing questions. "Have you seen Albus ? Do you know where Albus is ?" Each time the response was the same, sometimes kindly given, sometimes almost contemptuously as though the question were ridiculous.

Minerva's despair and desperation grew, one of them had to know, they had to. They were her only link between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Desolation threatened to overwhelm her, only the fading remnants of strength and courage kept her walking the stairs and corridors of the castle. As Minerva paced the corridors she couldn't help but notice how the castle seemed devoid of light and life with Albus gone. Passages that had once glowed with warmth were now dark and chilly in a way they never had been before. Albus Dumbledore had been Hogwarts, and when he had lived it was as though the castle was embued with his very essence. Now it was as though all the joy and laughter had gone leaving only gloom behind.

As the coldness that now seemed to be an intrinsic part of Hogwarts seeped into her, Minerva couldn't help but recall those first terrible days after his death - when a pall of deathly silence had hung over the school, and small knots of students huddled in dark corners, the same blank disbelieving looks on all their faces. The pain of her memories was intolerable. Angrily Minerva thrust them from her mind, and though close to collapsing from exhaustion and grief continued her search of the castle. She would not rest until she had found Albus, until she had questioned every single ghost.

_**Author's Notes**_

_**Along with Early Years this is yet another story of mine where I am horrified at how long it has taken me to update. I certainly never intended for it to be so long, but reality, illness, and inspiration for other ideas all got in the way, so I can only apologise for how long this update took. **_

_**I'm currently striving to finish chapter five, but since my home is quite noisy at times it may take a while. I do intend to finish this story, though updates may be rather irregular, but I hope there won't be any more gaps of a year or whatever it is. ;) **_

_**Please review and let me know what you think, reviews will certainly help to inspire me to continue and to update faster. Feedback does help with writing. Thanks to all those who have reviewed already. **_


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